Some Like It Hot by Lori Wilde Read Free Book Online

off.
    But Melanie had sneaked out when her mom wasn’t looking, and hidden behind a pile of boulders to build a rock tower that would reach the moon.
    Her tower didn’t quite reach her waist, and looked more like a heap of rubble, but when she was finished, she’d hurried out to show her family what she’d done.
    She could still see herself, crouching in the dirt, the Grand Canyon a panoramic background behind her, as she realized that the picnic table was empty, and the camper no longer parked alongside it.
    Melanie let out a shriek and ran into the road just in time to see the camper disappearing around the bend.
    They’d left her!
    Her heart was pumping hard and she got that claustrophobic, carsick feeling all over again. Her family had driven away without her! They didn’t want her anymore. She tasted the salt of her tears and put a fist to her stomach.
    She’d felt so very, very small and all alone.
    A hand clamped on her shoulder and she looked up, legs trembling, to see a kind-faced forest ranger in a Smokey the Bear hat staring down at her. “What are you doing out in the road, little girl?”
    That’s when she’d thrown up on him.
    He’d taken her to the ranger’s station, and a nice-smelling lady ranger had cleaned her up and then given her chocolatemilk and cookies and a coloring book and crayons. Other grown-ups came to make a fuss over her, asking her name and where she was from. That’s when she told them about her parents driving off and leaving her.
    There was a flurry of activity and then some policemen showed up. Some time later another policeman came into the ranger station with her parents behind him.
    Her mother scooped her into her arms and covered her face with kisses. Her sisters were crying and her father kept apologizing. Remy and Anne had thought she’d fallen asleep in the back of the camper with the other girls, and her sisters had thought she was in the front with their parents. It wasn’t until the state trooper pulled them over to tell them they’d left a daughter behind that they had even known she was missing.
    Her mother kept a tight grip on Melanie for the rest of the day. Her sisters sang her songs and told her stories. Her father let her pick the restaurant for their evening meal. Everyone paid her lot of attention, and it was glorious.
    And that’s when the realization hit her. If you wanted to get noticed, you had to rock the boat.
    So began Melanie’s flirtation with rebellion. Whenever she felt ignored or left out, she would do something outrageous to make them remember that she was there.
    She’d turned into a naughty girl.
    But she was a girl no more. She was a grown woman who was determined to make up for her past mistakes and prove to everyone that they could indeed depend on her.
    Robert LeSoeur included.

CHAPTER FOUR
    A FTER HER QUICK SHOWER and a change of clothes, Melanie met her sisters for Saturday morning brunch at La Grand-mère’s. As they waited in line for the maître d’, Melanie glanced at her oldest sister.
    How lovely Charlotte was, with sleek hair the color of toasted pecans and exotic, almond-shaped green eyes. She possessed a timeless beauty, a genteel Southern charm she’d picked up from their mother. She had a sense of grace that Melanie had never learned—never cared to learn, actually.
    Charlotte smiled at the middle-aged maître d’, laid two polished fingertips against the back of his hand and sweetly asked for the best table they had with a view of the Mississippi. They were seated immediately at a corner table overlooking the river.
    No doubt, Char had a way about her. She was all cream and roses. All pearls and lace. She still wore stockings, even during the muggy New Orleans summer months. Next to her elegant oldest sister, Melanie felt shabby, eclipsed, invisible.
    Renee sat on Melanie’s right. A couple of years younger than Charlotte, the former Hollywood studio executive was now in charge of hotel public relations, and she